Electronic Telegram No. 3024
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


SUPERNOVA 2012ad
     A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, M. J. Graham, A. Mahabal, and R. Williams,
California Institute of Technology; J. L. Prieto, Princeton University; M.
Catelan, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; E. C. Beshore and S. M.
Larson, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona; and E.
Christensen, Gemini Observatory, report the discovery of an apparent supernova
in unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) images:

   SN       2012 UT       R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.
   2012ad   Jan. 26.30   6 38 45.07  +67 20 22.4   17.9

Nothing was visible at this position on CSS images from 2011 Dec. 28.22 UT
(limiting mag 20.2).

     L. Tomasella, S. Valenti, A. Pastorello, and S. Benetti, Istituto
Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, report that a
spectrogram of 2012ad, obtained on Feb. 18.83 UT with the 1.82-m Copernico
Telescope (+ AFOSC; range 340-790 nm, resolution 2.2 nm), indicates that it
is a type-Ia supernova.  Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra
via the "Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J.
666, 1024) shows that 2012ad is similar to SN 1995D (Sadakane et al. 1996,
PASPJ 48, 51S) at about two weeks after maximum.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 February 20                 (CBET 3024)              Daniel W. E. Green